Did you realize that they are all around us?
Not being racist here, I realized, there’s an increase of Filipinos working in Singapore. I see them in hospitals as nurses, see them working as maids, see them working at Carrefour service counters, Sakae sushi waitresses, Subway sandwich artists… they are practically EVERY WHERE.
With all due respect to the industrious Filipinos out there, I am not biased against any of you. But I feel UNCOMFORTABLE. I used to work in Manila, all of a sudden, eating at Sakae sushi makes me wonder, “Am I at Singapore now or Philippines?”
No doubt their service standard is much higher than the locals which I really respect, in fact, they are ten times more courteous, attentive and respectful to the customers, but where are the Singaporeans and I truly missed the Singapore culture, the Singapore way of service and the singlish way of asking, “CUE-ME, CAN I HALP YOU?”. That is what I like about McDonald’s. As far as I know, they seldom hire foreigners, mostly local students and aunties, uncles.
In other aspect, I wondered, why are the local companies, like Sakae sushi employing non locals as their service staff? I believe Singaporeans are very willing to work as waitresses and waiters, unlike rubbish collectors, which I think we definitely need foreigners’ help. Why are local companies, not even helping the locals to secure a job to ease the unemployment situation? Fine, in business point of view, these foreigners are indeed cheaper than the locals and definitely less demanding, in other words, CHEAP and GOOD. Maybe I am not a business person, and I fail to comprehend and value the benefits of employing foreign workers, but I can’t help but wonder why are we not helping the locals, but investing money on the foreigners, perhaps even offer them courses to attend to upgrade their skills. In kampong last time, Teochews used to say, "Ka Ki Lung", this logic doesn't apply in today's world. Earn money seems to be the most important thing.
While traveling, I often pay special attention to the service staff in whatever countries that I visit, just a habit. Generally, our neighboring countries service staff is rather inattentive and slow in reaction, they like to chat with their colleagues while on duty as for Hong Kong, the service staff are rather impatient and easily irritated, as for Taiwan, the service staff are pretty helpful and they greet you as soon as you step into their shops, as for Japan, the service staff are extremely courteous and helpful. I don’t want to have no memories of the service staff in Singapore. I may be exaggerating about the situation now, but who knows, 20 years down the road, no more Singaporeans are working as service staff. Perhaps, our country will be flooded with foreigners that one day, we lost our Singaporean cultures, the homely feeling. Perhaps in future, we don’t need to travel to gain the experience of the foreign cultures, cause Singapore may then be a multi-country country by then.
With all due respect to the industrious Filipinos out there, I am not biased against any of you. But I feel UNCOMFORTABLE. I used to work in Manila, all of a sudden, eating at Sakae sushi makes me wonder, “Am I at Singapore now or Philippines?”
No doubt their service standard is much higher than the locals which I really respect, in fact, they are ten times more courteous, attentive and respectful to the customers, but where are the Singaporeans and I truly missed the Singapore culture, the Singapore way of service and the singlish way of asking, “CUE-ME, CAN I HALP YOU?”. That is what I like about McDonald’s. As far as I know, they seldom hire foreigners, mostly local students and aunties, uncles.
In other aspect, I wondered, why are the local companies, like Sakae sushi employing non locals as their service staff? I believe Singaporeans are very willing to work as waitresses and waiters, unlike rubbish collectors, which I think we definitely need foreigners’ help. Why are local companies, not even helping the locals to secure a job to ease the unemployment situation? Fine, in business point of view, these foreigners are indeed cheaper than the locals and definitely less demanding, in other words, CHEAP and GOOD. Maybe I am not a business person, and I fail to comprehend and value the benefits of employing foreign workers, but I can’t help but wonder why are we not helping the locals, but investing money on the foreigners, perhaps even offer them courses to attend to upgrade their skills. In kampong last time, Teochews used to say, "Ka Ki Lung", this logic doesn't apply in today's world. Earn money seems to be the most important thing.
While traveling, I often pay special attention to the service staff in whatever countries that I visit, just a habit. Generally, our neighboring countries service staff is rather inattentive and slow in reaction, they like to chat with their colleagues while on duty as for Hong Kong, the service staff are rather impatient and easily irritated, as for Taiwan, the service staff are pretty helpful and they greet you as soon as you step into their shops, as for Japan, the service staff are extremely courteous and helpful. I don’t want to have no memories of the service staff in Singapore. I may be exaggerating about the situation now, but who knows, 20 years down the road, no more Singaporeans are working as service staff. Perhaps, our country will be flooded with foreigners that one day, we lost our Singaporean cultures, the homely feeling. Perhaps in future, we don’t need to travel to gain the experience of the foreign cultures, cause Singapore may then be a multi-country country by then.
posted by Cel at
10/01/2007 08:36:00 PM
2 Comments:
hey cel !
i've been giving u comment yay!
ain't i a good girl.
im expecting present from ya '
STILL WAITING...
singaporeans who work as waiters/waitresses are usually just temp and will quit at a moment's notice, which leads to a lot of turnover costs for restaurants, whereas foreign workers are here on contract for 1-2 years and can't quite. i believe thats why foreigners are hired.
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